Certified Kalido partners deliver enterprise-class BI programs to midsize companies without enterprise-size resources through managed and hosted services
Burlington, MA – September 23, 2008
- Kalido, the active information management company, today unveiled a new subscription-based offering of the Kalido Information Engine™ that delivers enterprise-class business intelligence (BI) infrastructure to midsize companies. The more manageable cost structure will allow the mid-market to implement BI programs without the massive risk, capital and resources that typify enterprise BI projects.
Subscription Offering Highlights
- The Kalido mid-market solution will include three components of the Kalido Information Engine: the Kalido Business Information Modeler™, the Kalido Dynamic Information Warehouse™ and the Kalido Universal Information Director™ for Microsoft.
- The offering will initially focus on Microsoft SQL Server® Analysis Services (SSAS) cubes and the more than 40 BI tools that can integrate with SSAS. Microsoft’s low price-point and strong following in the mid-market makes it a perfect complement to the Kalido subscription offering. Kalido can also be used with Microsoft Excel®, giving business users access to the data in a very familiar, nearly universal reporting format.
- Kalido-certified partners, including Axis Group and Project Performance Corporation, will resell the new subscription-based offering to their clients as either a managed or hosted service. Partners have been selected for this program based on their ability to successfully deliver on Kalido-based projects in the past and their familiarity with the Microsoft platform, enabling customers to rely on their expertise for project development and maintenance, rather than hire full-time employees internally.
An Underserved (Mid) Market
- According to Gartner, the mid-market suffers from enterprise-sized BI issues, including the need to leverage ERP data, fragmented application silos and the lack of the right metrics. The same study also cites issues unique to midsize companies such as much smaller BI budgets, fewer in-house IT resources and less infrastructure. (Gartner, Inc. “Findings: Issues in BI Adoption for Midmarket Clients Mirror Those Found in Larger Enterprises,” Neil Chandler, July 28, 2008)
- For years, larger companies have invested in complex data warehouses and BI systems that take years to build, cost millions of dollars to deploy, and a large team to maintain. Although some of these organizations have been able to demonstrate measurable returns, midsize companies are often unable to follow suit due to the lack of significant upfront capital and internal resources required to implement a robust business intelligence program.
- The Kalido-based subscription offering enables these same companies to build, deliver and deploy enterprise-class BI by paying a monthly subscription fee and no major up-front capital software investment or an increase in IT headcount.
Addressing Market Needs
- Among the first to sign-up for the new offering is Consortium Health Plans, a national coalition of 20 leading Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Plans. The Consortium provides national sales support for its members, enabling them to compete for national accounts. As with any company, the Consortium constantly seeks ways to increase revenue for its members.
- When investigating options for a BI program, the Consortium found that traditional approaches required substantial initial investments, as well as a sizeable internal team with a wide range of skills. Given its size and resources, CHP found such a traditional BI investment to be both risk- and resource-intensive, as well as cost-prohibitive.
- To combat these roadblocks, the Consortium turned to systems integrator Axis Group and has begun to use its Kalido-based managed service offering to deliver on their BI vision.
- The managed solution will enable the Consortium to deliver a comprehensive, actionable business intelligence program that will help its members to react faster to market demands and increase their competitive advantage.
Quotes
Michael Underman, Vice President, National Account Services, at Consortium Health Plans, said:
- “Consortium Health Plans is committed to helping our members remain successful in the competitive national account marketplace. With access to more accurate, current and complete information, our member plans will be able to make better, more timely decisions, enhance their sales processes and increase overall revenue”
Carter Coberley, Ph.D., CIO and Vice President, Business Intelligence, at Consortium Health Plans, said:
- “We selected the Kalido-Axis solution because we needed to get up and running fast. We can’t afford to spend two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars building a BI system that may or may not give us the information we need. The monthly subscription costs are easier for us to manage from a budgetary perspective, while still giving us the enterprise-class system we need.”
Ranjan Sinha, Principal, in charge of Sales and Delivery, at Axis Group, said:
- “Kalido’s new offering will democratize BI by giving mid-market enterprises an opportunity to implement a robust BI system in a format better suited for their size and business model. As a partner, it gives us a new way to sell and manage a complete offering to organizations that do not have the resources, skills or budget to implement a complete and robust BI Solution. This will differentiate our services while taking advantage of seven years of Kalido knowledge and best practices.”
Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido, said:
- “There are thousands of companies who lack the skills and resources to embark on a traditional business intelligence program, but who could greatly benefit from the insight that BI can deliver. By providing this offering and partnering with trusted, certified SIs that can deliver it, we’re opening up a whole new market that’s been clamoring for a BI solution suited to their business.”
###
Microsoft, Excel and SQL Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. This press release is an independent publication of Kalido; it has not been authorized or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.